A Look Inside The Yankee Universe (and around the world of baseball)

Game 79: Blue Jays vs. Yankees

The last time the Yankees saw the Blue Jays, the Toronto nine was hitting home runs by the bunches and hanging with the big boys in the AL East. After a miserable 9-17 record in June, however, the Jays have fallen nine games off the pace and are fighting to stay alive in the pennant race.

Over the first two months of the season, the Jays surprised everyone with a power laden offense that was able to compensate for a very low on base percentage. Well, the power was shut off in June. After hitting a whopping 54 HRs in May, the Jays only belted 26 round trippers in June. With an OBP of only .293 in the month, the Jays also saw their run production get cut half, dropping from 164 to 80 month over month.

AJ Burnett isn’t likely to have much sympathy for the Jays’ plight because he is also coming off a miserable June that was of historic proportions. At 0-5 with an ERA of 11.35 in the month, Burnett probably couldn’t wait to turn the calendar to July. More importantly, Burnett has also been anxiously awaiting the return of pitching coach Dave Eiland, whose leave from the ballclub for personal reasons happened to coincide with the start of Burnett’s struggles. According to reports, Eiland and Burnett have hammered out more than a few issues, so if Eiland really has the magic touch, Burnett could be poised for a rebound.

Regardless of how well Burnett pitches, the Yankees bats, which also slumped in June, but not to the extent of the Jays, have to support him. Jays’ starter Brett Cecil shut the Yankees down the last time these two teams met in Toronto, so the Yankees will need to adjust to the soft tossing lefty’s dominant change-up that kept them so off balanced last time around. Cecil will face what right now is the Yankees’ “A-lineup”, which features Posada at DH and Cervelli’s better defense behind the plate.

So, today’s game is the proverbial battle between the immoveable object (the Jays slumping offense) and the irresistible force (Burnett’s string of awful outings). Something has to give. The Yankees hope it isn’t Burnett.

vs. Brett Cecil

PA

BA

OBP

SLG

HR

RBI

Derek Jeter SS

10

0.444

0.500

0.444

0

0

Nick Swisher RF

9

0.250

0.333

0.250

0

1

Mark Teixeira 1B

9

0.333

0.556

0.833

1

1

Alex Rodriguez 3B

6

0.333

0.333

0.500

0

0

Robinson Cano 2B

9

0.500

0.556

0.875

1

1

Jorge Posada DH

9

0.375

0.444

0.375

0

2

Curtis Granderson CF

3

0.000

0.000

0.000

0

0

Francisco Cervelli C

0

0.000

0.000

0.000

0

0

Brett Gardner LF

0

0.000

0.000

0.000

0

0

Total

55

0.354

0.436

0.500

2

5

vs. AJ Burnett

PA

BA

OBP

SLG

HR

RBI

Fred Lewis LF

3

0.000

0.000

0.000

0

0

Alex Gonzalez SS

9

0.250

0.333

0.625

1

1

Jose Bautista RF

3

1.000

1.000

4.000

2

3

Vernon Wells CF

13

0.333

0.385

0.667

1

1

Adam Lind DH

13

0.200

0.385

0.200

0

0

Aaron Hill 2B

15

0.286

0.333

0.500

1

1

Lyle Overbay 1B

21

0.050

0.095

0.100

0

0

John Buck C

15

0.214

0.200

0.714

2

5

Jarrett Hoffpauir

0

0.000

0.000

0.000

0

0

Total

92

0.217

0.283

0.506

7

11

Yankees vs. Blue Jays

Season: 2010

Season: 2009

Season: 2008

All-Time

TOR: 2-1

NYY: 12-6

TIED: 9-9

NYY: 260-207

Before the game, the Yankees activated right handed pitcher Dustin Moseley and optioned Boone Logan back to triple-A Scranton.